


> entry zero: the lord and his muse

by orphan_account



Series: Shards of Hyalus [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-15 23:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7244083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of one shots that recount the lore of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/6987550/chapters/15923113">Mirror Image</a>, and will be narrated by David Strider (Alpha Dave), the Late King of Skaia. <br/>This entry tries to recount the story of the twin gods of Hyalus: Caliborn and Calliope, a story about overcoming "fate" and bits and pieces about the faith of the people of Hyalus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	> entry zero: the lord and his muse

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how I feel about this entry to be honest but I'd love to hear feedback anyways, hoping future entries will be better.

if youre reading this then im long dead, my name is david strider, i was the king of skaia for all of three years and this is actually my last entry, but it will be the first you find.  
you must have noticed the cracks in the old doctors clever facade, which is to say, youve found one of my shards. think of them as journal entries, about various events in the timeline of hyalus, our home.

ive refrained from avoiding all punctuation as i would usually do, for your convenience, though im sure youll notice this is a family trait, at least for half of us. duality has always been a major part of my family, even before the good doctor decided to manipulate our own gods into ‘cursing’ us.

you wont be getting these in any specific order, its part of my charm youll have to get used to it. id pay you too but i doubt youd be able to make use of boons in your world.

i should probably get to the point of this one, as the doc probably pointed out to you, the curse was his. though the intent of the gods that cast it was far from malicious so we’ll start with caliborn, the patron god of all skaians and the lord of time, as a knight of said aspect this may be more bias than anything else, but you can trust me.

each of the twins have their own methods to preserve the world theyve worked so hard to seed. caliborn, like us skaians, prefers magic. while calliope, among many of the alternians who have magic by their very nature, would prefer not to use it. both have their reasons, but common ground is usually found.  
lets try and focus on caliborn for now, and later ill try and dwell on calliope and the relationship they both have as siblings or whatever. youd think id have all this planned out considering im dying or something. am dead? have died? will die? will have died? i guess thats what the doc has that i dont he doesnt go into tangents. im hoping my past entries were better than this but i cant guarantee it. 

oh right caliborn well the short answer is that hes responsible for time and everything related to it, fate, destiny etc. but nothing is ever that simple, to us skaians he represents many things, some of these are attributed to other “gods” but all are within his domain. he is the night, the end and ultimately death. hes the reason im doing this instead of fighting against what will happen to me, the reason why many of my kind are so fearless in the face of death.

when he was still a child, he and his sister were one and the same, they had inner conflicts, he was violent and immature, hurtful to his sister. the guy tried convincing himself he wanted nothing to do with her, even go as far as attempt to remove her consciousness from his body, or at least, what he considered “his” body, a right brat if you ask me some even go as far to call him a monster. i mean he did effectively wish death on his sister, right? fucking wrong. alternians have wondered for centuries how we could put our faith in what they deem to be a monster. why a seemingly harmless race of people could base their ideals on such a being. heres why, its because he felt that his talents paled against those of hers. instead of feeling sorry for himself. instead of letting that, and his “fate” destroy him until becoming a true monster. instead of killing his sister, he chose to go against what his kind know, and have known since the Green Star was formed. to improve himself and, against all odds, he succeeded.

his kind, cherubim if memory serves me, though most just call them gods, are powerful beings born with two souls. they will usually have their two halves fighting, or “playing a game” throughout their entire childhood. this will last until they reach maturity, and one personality predominates the other. one half is considered benevolent, and the other malevolent, you probably guess what half caliborn got assigned to based on what ive already said. im not sure how this is assigned but it apparently has to do with the parents, im sure theres a cerulean 8looded alternian willing to talk about that extensively out there somewhere. the point is saddling a child with a label that essentially means “evil” is utter bullshit and i fucking hope that gets sorted amongst the rest of their kind at some point in the future. soon he went against the “game” co-operated with his sister, and through a method still under debate, he split himself from his sister and they became separate beings, opposite but similar, both alive, no threat of predomination from the other.

to be exact here caliborn is the lord of time, he has domain over destiny, he is the patron of war and of endings, the reason for death and decay and ensures what is meant to pass in time does so, but he is not above changing what is meant to happen, especially if all seems lost. he is the night and keeper of what is just and watcher of souls of those of just deaths.

so when im asked why i put my faith in Caliborn this is why, because when i think of caliborn. i think of perseverance and the will to fight the odds, the one who saved his sister, not the monster he could have become. 

of course as much as i admire his own will, and his perseverance he could not have got there without his sister. where his domain is time and destiny, hers is space and rebirth. i dont know much about calliope if im honest with you. shes was not our patron god so you cant really blame me, but ill try my best here, again my bias may shine through, so be careful when quoting me.

unlike what alternians think of caliborn we have no issues against calliope. how could we i mean shes the benevolent one or whatever is she not? while its easy for some to paint caliborn evil its hard to do that to his sister. nor will i try to because anyone who does needs to seriously get themselves checked out because they have lost all common sense. infact the true evil is scratch, and hell get to me soon enough, the man is patient, at least most of the time.

right back to calliope, shes known as the muse of space, where caliborn would directly interfere, she prefers to inspire. this is what saved them both, she was able to become a muse to her brother, inspire him, save him from himself, to support him. if you ask me this is what any good sibling would do, even in times when all hope seems lost. where time ensures the flow of the universe, space is about its propagation. space is physical where time is metaphysical, space is our actions while time is the consequences of said actions. im not an expert on space, time is more my thing to be honest, though the good people of skaianet could probably tell it to you better, if you get the chance to meet any of them, i dont know what scratch has in mind for the narrative.

so from what ive read in their backwards ass daedric script and from what meenah has told me, yes me and the empress go way back, for me at least, im just a skaian with a short lifespan compared to her, and she aint afraid to say it. anyway as i was saying from both these sources i was able to piece together some of the beliefs of alternia, so lets hope i dont fuck this up. calliope is the beginning, which was obvious if Caliborn was the end. she was born with more magic than her brother, similar to how alternians were born with magic, while we were gifted it, or cursed, depending on the person, instead. as such she didnt want to use her magic in fear of abusing it, in fear that she might harm her brother, who at the time already feared and hated her, at least thats what she saw, and how he was acting at the time. eventually though she was able to sense that he was more upset and confused than angry and petty, he was in the same situation as her, lonely, she vowed to help him, even if it ends with his predomination. her compassion appeals to alternians, because it is something they too had to learn, they started out fighting between the castes of the hemospectrum, but soon they saw they were more similar than different, that they needed guidance not constant fighting. in that sense they took solace in the muse, who inspired them to settle their differences, work together, create not destroy.

calliope is the muse of space, she has domain over creation, she is the patron of peace and beginnings, the cause of rebirth, she ensures that the world can sustain itself, she is what inspires change. she is the day and keeper of souls whove claimed a heroic death. 

this is all i have time for, ive got a fucking cueball to sink, or fail to for that matter, this will likely end heroically so ill see you all on the other side.

-david strider  
the late king of skaia 


End file.
